


Time for Tea.

by RedStarFiction



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 15:59:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7580731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedStarFiction/pseuds/RedStarFiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A wee bit of Fluff set on Fraser's Ridge post MOBY.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time for Tea.

“Please pass Esmerelda the cream Grandda.”  
“Of course, shall I pour for her?”  
“No thank you, she likes me to do it.”  
“Oh! To be sure!”  
“Grandda! That’s the milk!”  
Jamie glanced down at the tiny pink jug, its minute handle squeezed as delicately as he could between one huge thumb and forefinger.   
“Are ye sure? I was certain the blue one was milk?”  
Mandy’s brow furrowed in thought a moment, trying to remember the very specific set of rules she had laid out for him at the beginning of the tea-party.  
“Well … now the pink one is milk.”  
Jamie narrowed his eyes at her and Mandy giggled  
“Aye but ye remember that! I dinna wish to be pouring Esmerelda the wrong thing and ruining her tea, ken?”  
“OK. And the jam rolls are scones now!”  
“But I didna get to eat my jam roll!”  
Jamie feigned indignity and looked down at the empty plate in front of him.   
“Um … You do have a jam roll left then but the rest are scones.”  
Jamie chuckled at her and carefully lifted his imaginary jam roll, popping it in whole and puffing out his cheeks, chewing elaborately.   
“Grandda! Table manners!”  
Mandy exclaimed and handed Jamie a real handkerchief that she had borrowed from Claire to act as a napkin.  
“Och, aye. Sorry lass.”  
Jamie grinned guiltily and then groaned, stretching his back. He had been sat cross legged on the floor for nearly half an hour and his joints were starting to scold him for such foolishness almost as strongly as Claire was sure to.  
“Five more minutes? Please?”  
Mandy widened her eyes and looked up hopefully, already proficient in convincing her doting grandfather to do most things.  
“I think I can manage that, but ye’ll need to help me up when we’re done.”  
“Alright!”  
Mandy nodded happily, seizing the tea pot and topping Jamie’s little cup up with water which they were allowed instead of proper tea.  
*  
The tea set had been an impulse purchase on Jamie’s latest trip into the town when they needed supplies. It had been set out on a wee table and the lassie selling it was perhaps ten years old. She had been overcome with shyness when Jamie approached her to enquire how much and been unable to tell him the requested price. At that point a man with a grain of sense would have left the thing, for surely it was beyond frivolous, but Jamie knew how much Mandy enjoyed helping Claire set out the places for tea and the wee set was almost the perfect size for the lass and so he found himself offering a handful of small coins and doubtless paying over the odds to spare one wee lass embarrassment and spoil another.  
When he had unpacked it and called Mandy in from playing with her brother and cousin, Jamie had expected a happy thanks but he had not expected the reverent way in which the little girl had stroked one finger across the flowers painted in pink and gold across the teapot, nor the complete adoration written across her face as she whispered  
“Oh Grandda! It’s the most lovely thing I have ever seen!”  
“I’m glad ye like it Ghraidh.”  
“Is it for Grannie?”  
Jamie had frowned slightly then, crouching down beside Mandy to be closer to her level  
“Weel, no. It’s for you.”  
“Me?”  
“Aye. A pretty wee gift for my pretty wee grandaugh..oof!”  
Jamie gasped as Mandy threw her arms about his neck and hugged him tight enough to nearly choke him.  
“Thank ye Grandda!”  
“Ye are most welcome lass.”  
Jamie chuckled, patting her sturdy back and gently disentangling himself.   
“Ye best take care o’ it mind, make sure ye keep as clean and tidy as ye Grannie does.”  
Mandy nodded earnestly and turned back to gaze lovingly at her tea set.  
“I will! I promise!”  
*  
Since then anyone who had a task to do that required sitting for a time found themselves presented with an imaginary banquet. More often than not it was Jenny, darning or knitting who was favoured as Mandy told her she was better at it than Claire, who tended to over-analyse the proceedings and question whether four scoops of ice cream was excessive after scones and sandwiches  
“It’s pretend Grannie! Ye canna get fat from pretend!”  
Mandy had cried in exasperation that morning as Claire played with her and Jamie had half-heartedly scolded the lass for raising her voice to her grandmother whilst doing his best to suppress a smile.   
“She’s right Sassenach …”  
He commented when Mandy wandered off in search of a less pedantic playmate  
“Unless of course ye bum can get fat from air alone? Which would explain its resilience during our less prosperous times …”  
Claire had responded with an elbow playfully jabbed in his ribs and calling Mandy back to assure her that Grandda had a spare half an hour to play tea that evening.   
*  
That was how it came to be that after eating his jam roll, polishing off the last of the scones and devouring something Mandy called ‘Peezer’ which apparently was melted cheese on bread Jamie found himself being pried out of his cross-legged stupor by Claire, his back and hips completely stiff as she did her best to pull him up.  
“You must have eaten too much air!”  
Claire quipped as he finally made it to his feet and then dodged aside with a shriek as he took a swipe at her notably resilient posterior.  
“I think from now on the lassie and I will need a few real cakes to be carryin’ on wi’ Sassenach. If I’m to get stuck on my arse, I’d at least like to be fed properly!”  
Jamie grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and nuzzling his face into the curve of her neck, nipping her earlobe gently between his teeth.  
“I am sure I can see to that!”  
Claire agreed and Mandy, in the process of carefully packing her tea cups into their box, gave an excited squeal and clapped her hands  
“Well done Grandda! If ye get stuck again do ye think we’ll be allowed real-tea too?”  
Then scowled at her grandparents, unsure of exactly what was so funny.


End file.
